As a device of the kind mentioned above, a prior art provides a device shown in FIGS. 18 and 19 (refer to Japanese Patent Publication No. HEI 6-30280). In this device, an upper operation member 1 is depressed downward by means of an automatic machine, whereby one 2 of the operation levers is pivoted about a shaft 2a and another one 3 of the operation levers is pivoted about a shaft 3a. According to such pivotal motions, coupling pins 2b and 3b of these operation levers 2 and 3 are moved respectively in arrowed directions, and accordingly, a movable plate 4 connected to these pins 2b and 3b is horizontally moved in a predetermined direction. According to the motion of the movable plate 4, upper end portions 6a of contact pins 6 disposed to a connector body 5 are elastically deformed and then displaced, so that a terminal 7a of an electrical part (for example, IC package) mounted on the movable plate 4 is inserted into an upper end portion 6a of the contact pin with no-load condition. Thereafter, when the depressing force applied to the upper operation member 1 is released, the upper operation member 1 moves upward, and at the same time, the movable plate 4 is pressed by a restoring force of the contact pin 6 in a direction reverse to that applied before and the contact pin 6 and the terminal 7a of the electrical part 7 are contacted, thus establishing the electrical connection therebetween.
In the connector of such structure mentioned above, since the movable plate 4 is horizontally moved by the depressing force of the upper operation member 1, a pair of levers 2 and 3 utilizing the principle of lever are used. Therefore, the depressing force of the upper operation member 1 necessary for separating the connection of the contact pin 6 can be somewhat reduced by utilizing the principle of lever. However, as the depressing amount of the upper operation member 1 is increased, the reaction force of the contact pin 6 is accordingly increased, so that an increasing large depressing force is required for the levers 2 and 3 utilizing the principle of lever as the depressing amount of the upper operation member 1 is increased, providing no good maneuverbility.
Furthermore, when it is required to reduce the depressing force, it becomes necessary to elongate the lengths of the levers 2 and 3, and accordingly, in a case where a problem of space limitation for locating the bilateral levers exists, there is a limit for reducing the depressing force. Still furthermore, in a case where it is required to make large a vertical motion amount of the upper operation member 1 without changing the moving amount of the movable plate 4, it becomes also necessary to elongate the lengths of the levers 2 and 3, and accordingly, in a case where space limitation for locating the bilateral levers exists, it is difficult to satisfy such requirement.
Still furthermore, in the structure utilizing the principle of lever, the coupling pins 2b and 3b connected to the movable plate 4 perform circular motions about the shafts 2a and 3a, so that the movable plate 4 cannot be exactly moved in the horizontal direction.
An object of the present invention is therefore to provide an electrical connector capable of exactly moving a movable plate in a horizontal direction.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector capable of, in a case where space limitation exists, making small a depressing force, making large a vertically moving amount of an upper operation member without changing a horizontally moving amount of a movable plate, and improving the degree of design freedom.